2 drown in Manila; man dies while being rescued

Three people have died—two due to drowning and the third from a still undetermined cause—at the height of floods spawned by the monsoon.

Two of the fatalities were from Manila while the third was from Marikina City.

One of the victims was Ronald Vasquez, 34, who drowned after he jumped into C. M. Recto underpass where the floodwaters had risen to a height of 20 feet during a heavy downpour on Tuesday afternoon.

PO3 Rodel Benitez of the Manila Police District homicide section said that Vasquez had been drinking before he suddenly decided to go for a swim.

“After jumping into the southbound part of [the] underpass, the victim failed to surface,” Benitez said. His wife, who was nearby, became concerned and asked for help from bystanders who later found her husband. He was brought to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Like Vasquez, the other victim from Manila had also been drinking before he drowned.

Edgardo Garcia, 68, was last seen having drinks with a friend near a creek at La Loma cemetery on Tuesday afternoon. His body was found Thursday morning floating on a flooded street in Tondo, Manila, not far from where he was last spotted.

In Marikina City, a 70-year-old man died as he was being rescued from the floods Thursday.

Joey San Andres, an administrative aide at Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, said that Rogelio Eleazar was brought in for treatment by members of a rescue team around 8 a.m.

He said that Eleazar suddenly stiffened as he was being taken out of his house in Barangay Sto. Niño.

Efforts were made to revive Eleazar but he was declared dead at 8:25 a.m. The cause of death has yet to be determined. Kristine Felisse Mangunay